


Word Chain

by mezzosesu



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life, Word Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 05:02:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17616002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mezzosesu/pseuds/mezzosesu
Summary: Nagisa wants to play word games (read: flirt) with Rei!





	Word Chain

**Author's Note:**

> I've been in a little bit of a writing slump lately, but I finally found myself wanting to write today. I remembered a Free! zine that I wanted to buy (and still need to buy!), and that reminded me of how much I adore ReiGisa. So then, I wrote this silly thing ahahaha

“Rei-chan!”

Rei turned at the sound of his name just as he was grabbing his swimsuit, looking over his locker door just in time to see Nagisa running at him. Rei knew that the exuberant boy wasn't going to stop like any _sane_ person would, so he haphazardly dropped his suit, closed the locker, and braced himself for impact.

He grunted as Nagisa slammed into him with a laugh, instinctively wrapping his hands underneath the other’s legs for support. Thin, wiry limbs wrapped around his neck and waist, effectively dubbing him a tree for Nagisa's koala-like tendencies.

Taking a step back to stabilize himself, Rei glared down at the top of Nagisa’s head with as much ire as he could muster. “You're being too reckless! What if you slipped and hurt yourself?”

Nagisa hummed in thought. “That wouldn't happen, because you'd catch me!”

“You have too much faith in me.”

“I think it's just enough!”

Rei sighed heavily before shifting his gaze to Haru, who had been watching the whole spectacle from across the room. Haru was always more of the calm type of their group, and he knew that Nagisa looked up to him. Surely, if he got Haru to jump in, he could get himself out of this situation. “Senpai, some help?”

Haru stared at the two of them silently, and Rei would've thought he was talking to a statue if he didn't catch the soft tap of Haru’s foot on the floor. Was he in a rush to be somewhere?

Rei took a moment to really look at Haru and finally noticed that he was in his jammers. Right, it was pool time. Haru would be no help. “Nevermind.”

Haru left, leaving the two of them alone in the locker room.

“Reiii!” Nagisa squirmed, throwing strands of tousled, golden hair into Rei's face.

Sputtering through the tickling sensation, Rei clambered to the bench and set Nagisa down, shrugging his shoulders up to flee the vice grip on him. After he collected himself once more, Rei decided to humor Nagisa. “What is it?”

“Let's play Shiritori!”

“What? Why?”

“I thought it would be fun! Plus, you need to work on your English.”

Rei balked. “We're doing it in English?” He was good at most subjects, but English was one of his weaker points.

Nagisa nodded. “That's what I said, silly! Okay, the rules are that there are no rules! Ready-”

“Wait-”

“Set, go! ‘Joy!’”

Rei faltered, stuttering as he tried to think of a suitable successor. “‘Y-yes’?”

“‘Salamander!’”

“Wait, what is that?”

Nagisa gave Rei a look of pity. “You don't know what a Salamander is?”

Rei opened his mouth to retort but decided against it. He sat down on the bench, flushing as he looked away to avoid Nagisa's eyes. How was he supposed to know that? It wasn't like it came up often in conversation or study. “Anyway, let's continue. ‘Rice’.”

“‘Everyone!’”

“‘Eel’.”

“Wow Rei, I wouldn't have expected you to know that one,” Nagisa commented, leaning in close and brushing their shoulders together. “You're not completely hopeless after all!”

Rei refused to rise to the bait. He knew that Nagisa just wanted to see him riled up and he was smarter than that. “Just go.”

“Oh, yeah! ‘Lively’!”

“‘Young’.”

“‘Gorgeous’!”

Nagisa fluttered his lashes with a grin, making Rei's blush grow deeper.

“‘S-soup’.”

“‘Pretty’!”

Rei was sure that Nagisa was just blatantly flirting with him now. It wasn't Rei’s first time of being on the receiving end of Nagisa's affections, whether it was simple compliments or excessive hugs, but he never knew how to respond. It was easy enough to say he wasn't interested, and even easier to just write it off as Nagisa just being him, but recently it had been getting harder to convince himself of that. Nagisa only ever gave him this much attention, and the more it went on, the more he craved it.

What did he actually feel for Nagisa?

Nagisa cleared his throat, dragging Rei back to the matter at hand. “Right, sorry. Um, we were at…”

“‘Y’!”

“Right. ‘Yakitori’.”

“Hey, that doesn't count!”

“I'm sure they use it in English.”

“Mmm, fine. ‘Intelligent’, then!”

“‘Tail’.”

"'Tale'?"

"'Tail', like an animal's tail," Rei clarified.

“Oh! I get it! Okay, hmm, ‘like’!”

“‘Ebb’.”

“‘Ebb’?” Nagisa asked, tilting his head.

“It's a real word, I assure you.”

Nagusa shrugged. “I believe you, Rei. Besides, it set me up for my favorite word for you!”

“Which is?”

“‘Beautiful’.”

“Wha--you can't be serious,” Rei said. Sure, he liked beautiful things and strived to be more elegant in his form, but there was no way that he was beautiful. It was impossible, laughable, really. “You're just humoring me.”

“Nope, that's what I think!” Nagisa took Rei's hand in his own and squeezed it happily. “You're beautiful, and cute, and adorable!”

Rei looked down at their clasped hands, then back to Nagisa. His heart jumped in his chest from the contact, and he knew that face must have been rivaling a tomato at that point. He quickly spun around so that he didn’t have to look at Nagisa and his amazing smile, mumbling something incoherent to hide his embarrassment.

Nagisa draped himself over Rei's back, playfully poking at his sides. “Rei? Hey, Rei? Don't you have anything to say to me, Rei?”

“N-no! I have nothing of the sort!” Rei replied through muffled laughter.

  


Maybe Rei did like Nagisa. However, he was content to continue denying it out loud, at least for today.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, it's really appreciated! :)


End file.
